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Women now receive more college degrees than men, and enter the workforce with better job opportunities than ever before. Indeed, the wage gap between men and women has never been smaller. So why does the typical woman have only 36 cents for every dollar of wealth owned by the typical man? Howis it that never-married women working full-time have only 16% as much wealth as similarly situated men? And why do single mothers have only 8% of the wealth of single fathers?The first book to focus on the differences in wealth between women and men, Shortchanged is a compelling and accessible examination of why women struggle to accumulate assets, who has what, and why it matters. Mariko Lin Chang draws on the most comprehensive national data on wealth and on in-depthinterviews to show how differences in earnings, in saving and investing, and, most important, the demands of care-giving all contribute to the gender-wealth gap. She argues that the current focus on equal pay and family-friendly workplace policies, although important, will not ultimately change oreliminate wealth inequalities. What Chang calls the "wealth escalator" - comprised of fringe benefits, the tax code, and government benefits - and the "debt anchor" must be the targets of policies aimed at strengthening women's financial resources. Chang proposes a number of practical suggestions toaddress the unequal burdens and consequences of care-giving, so that women who work just as hard as men will not be left standing in financial quicksand. A comprehensive portrait of where women and men stand with respect to wealth, Shortchanged not only sheds light on why women lack wealth, but also offers solutions for improving the financial situation of women, men, and families.

About The Author

Mariko Lin Chang is a former Associate Professor of Sociology at Harvard University. She currently works with universities to diversify their faculty and also works as an independent consultant specializing in data analysis of wealth inequality in the US.

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Title:Shortchanged: Why Women Have Less Wealth and What Can Be Done About ItFormat:PaperbackDimensions:224 pages, 9.25 × 6.12 × 0.68 inPublished:December 21, 2011Publisher:Oxford University PressLanguage:English

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Table of Contents

1. The Women's Wealth Gap: What Is It and Why Do We Care?2. Who Has What?3. The Wealth Escalator and the Debt Anchor4. How the Deck is Stacked Against Mothers5. Saving and Investing: Do Men and Women Do it Differently?6. Marriage: What's Mine is Yours?7. Public Solutions: Why Equal Pay and Family-Friendly Policies Aren't Enough and What Should Be Done InsteadAppendix: Data and MethodsNotesReferencesIndex

Editorial Reviews

"Shortchanged is a very readable, enlightening, and provocative study on an extremely important issue--the gender wealth gap. Whereas the vast majority of studies on gender differences focus on labor earnings, income, or jobs, this is one of the first works to broaden the topic to includefamily wealth. Chang makes clear the gender wealth gap is a more meaningful measure of inequality that far exceeds these other dimensions." --Edward Wolff, New York University